El Salvador buys 500 more Bitcoins amid the crypto crash

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele declared the country’s largest Bitcoin purchase to date in the middle of a terrifying crypto market fall. He tweeted on May 9 that El Salvador has just purchased an additional 500 tokens for roughly $15.3 million, while the Salvadoran crypto holdings reached 2,300 BTC.

Amid the crypto bloodbath, El Salvador keeps buying BTC. President Nayib Bukele wrote on Twitter on Monday: “El Salvador just bought the dip! 500 coins at an average USD price of ~$30,744.”

His tweet came as the crypto market lost billions, and the price of Bitcoin fell more than 50% from its all-time high.

At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $31,345. It was down 8.5% in the last 24 hours, 18.1% in the past 7 days, and 25.4% in the last 30 days.

Last September, El Salvador became the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender alongside the US dollar in September last year.

Since then, the company has been purchasing Bitcoin periodically. After an initial purchase of 700 BTC, the country bought 420 BTC in October, 100 BTC in November, 171 BTC in December, and 410 BTC in January. With Monday’s purchase, the total number of Bitcoins purchased by El Salvador has grown to 2,301 BTC.

Some experts assess that El Salvador’s total Bitcoin holdings have lost more than $30 million in value. Nonetheless, President Bukele is still bullish about Bitcoin, expecting the price of BTC will reach $100,000 this year.

Moreover, El Salvador plans to issue Bitcoin bonds but the launch date has not been set. Alejandro Zelaya, El Salvador’s treasury minister explained: “We are waiting for the right moment and the president says when … It depends on how the market is.”

He noted that the market conditions and the Russia-Ukraine war have affected the bond issuance.

In November, El Salvador’s President also announced plans to create a “Bitcoin City” near a volcano funded by the cryptocurrency. The city in southeastern El Salvador will have residential and commercial areas, services, entertainment, restaurants, and an airport.